Troubled Waters
by FTB
Summary: Lewis/Hathaway.  After a burst pipe ruins his flat James calls his boss for help but how long can Hathaway keep it all together before it all gets too much. *Chapter 3 added*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**First of all profuse apologies for not finishing my first fic "Worth Waiting For". I hated the last chapter I wrote and then in an attempt to rescue it I had what I like to call 'idea-diarrhoea' (lots of them - all utter shit!). So now I return with a new story about my two favourite boys because all the Lewis/Hobson stuff isn't really my cup of tea. I hope you enjoy it and I'm determined to finsh it this time.

**Summary** - Lewis/Hathaway. After a burst pipe ruins his flat James calls his boss for help but how long can Hathaway keep it all together before it all gets too much.

**Disclaimer:**The characters of Lewis do not belong to me. I make no money from this. Reviews would be appreciated.

Chapter One - That Sinking Feeling.

Lewis didn't have that feeling most people get when the phone rings in the early hours of the morning. He didn't worry that a family member had died or someone close to him had been in an accident. He was used to being called at all hours. It was part of the job. That day when he got the call about Val it completely blindsided him.

These days it was almost always be Hathaway on the other end of the phone. Someone had died or someone had had a terrible accident but it was never anyone he knew. There was just an address, a field, a riverbank, an abandoned garage or some corner of a disused car park and an investigation to start.

So Lewis wasn't perturbed by the call at nearly 5am and as expected the screen on the phone told him that it was Hathaway so he sat up in bed, switched on the light and got his notebook ready before answering.

"Good Morning Sergeant!" He said with mock cheerfulness "How are you this fine Sunday morning?"

"In crisis" James replied, his voice sounded frantic and angry "I need you to come to mine as quick as you can. Can you bring suitcases and bags and bin liners, lots of bin liners?"

"What's happened?" Lewis asked but he could hear Hathaway talking to someone else and then a loud crash.

"You better get here quick, that was my kitchen ceiling."

It didn't take long for Lewis to get dressed, retrieve the suitcases from on top of the wardrobe in the spare room. At that time of the morning the traffic was non-existent and he was driving into Hathaway's road within 20 minutes of the call. As he parked up he could see the commotion. The asian family who lived above James were standing on the pavement apart from Mr Sharma who along with James was carrying a sofa out on to the driveway.

Lewis got to work straightaway. Hauling Hathaway's and the Sharma family's worldly goods outside. The water was about waste deep in Hathaway's flat, the culprit was a burst water pipe between the two flats. Anything left in there was ruined by now but Hathaway hadn't yet admitted that to himself yet and was trying to retrieve books, records and sheet music that was floating on the surface of the water.

Someone over the road brought tea out to them all and finally James sat down on the wall in front of the property. A sea of possessions lay behind him on the driveway and beyond that was what seemed to him to be a small ocean in what was his pristine and well kept abode. He sighed loudly as Mrs Sharma draped a blanket over his shoulders as he sat there dripping wet to keep him warm as dawn broke and the cool February air started to bite. Lewis sat on the wall too and Mrs Sharma did provided another blanket.

"Thanks" said Lewis and then he turned to his colleague "Did you get your warrant card and security pass out?"

"Yeah, they're safe. I locked them in the car before the trickle turned into a torrent. I got my guitar out too but..." James paused and looked over his shoulder "It's all ruined, isn't it?"

"Yep, pretty much. We'll pack up what we can and then go to mine, you can stay there, call the insurance and we'll get ourselves warm and dry, eh?"

"I suppose" James replied and smiled weakly "Do the Sharma's have somewhere to go?"

Lewis nodded and then they sat in silence drinking tea until a few minutes later when the Sharma's extended family arrived bring with them tea and breakfast and a small army of people just as willing to help Hathaway and Lewis as they too were members of the family.

After awhile, as all the neighbours in street began to wake and come outside to see the drama a strange change in atmosphere occurred. It took on more than a slight social gathering feel to it. People stood around and joked and talked as if this was a summer barbeque in someone's back garden. Of course everyone offered to help but James and the Sharma's knew that really they were all well meant empty gestures.

The reason they called the people they called when it first happened was that they knew these would be the people to whom helping out wouldn't be a burden. Lewis was to Hathaway what the extended family was to the Sharma's. They were the people you can count on and the people who, if the situation was the other way around, you'd do exactly the same for them.

It was nearly 9am when Lewis and Hathaway got into their cars, the heating on full blast and every available crevice of both vehicles brimming with James' belongings. They waved to the Sharma's and gave them their best wishes but as he drove away James had that sinking feeling you get when you know you're never going to see someone again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two - Not Waving but Drowning

The burst pipe had come from the flat above his and James hoped for their sake that the Sharma's had insurance because although his flat had come off worse than theirs at least he didn't have two young children to uproot. It made him glad he rented that place rather than owning it. He'd left a message for the landlord but James had already decided that even if it was all repaired quickly he still wouldn't move back there anyway.

Lewis was out. He'd very kindly taken James' clothes to a laundrette and his suits to a dry cleaners to get everything back to a wearable state. Lewis' flat was already starting to smell like a pack of wet dogs and Hathaway realised that three quarters of the stuff he's 'saved' was destined for a skip. He swallowed hard and in his mind he screamed.

"I don't need this right now!"

James Hathaway always held it together, _always_. Through the images of scenes of horrific murders, the mountains of paperwork, the pressure of the job, the pressure he put on himself, his wrestles with his faith, painful memories and his self induced emotional isolation that led him nowhere but miserable loneliness, through everything, he kept it in. His outward appearance would not betray it. he would be calm, no better than that, he'd be serene. No one would notice it except Lewis because no one else was looking but even his boss didn't pry. James had always preferred it that way.

He wasn't feeling right. he wanted to cry but despite the lump in his throat it seemed his body had forgotten what to do next. He felt sick and dizzy. He felt a thousand things all at once and he panicked. He couldn't catch his breath.

Lewis found Hathaway on the floor when he returned laden with two heavy laundry bags of clothes still warm from the dryer. He knelt down on the floor next to his colleague and gently squeezed his shoulder. James opened his eyes but looked confused.

"James, are you okay? Do you know where you are?"

For a moment James didn't have a clue where he was. As his eyes regained focus and the object in front of his face identified itself in his mind as a leg of the coffee table.

"I'm fine" James said as he pulled himself up off the floor. Lewis held his arm to steady him as he sat back down on the sofa. "I'm fine"

Lewis went to the kitchen and poured a glass of water but as he passed it to Hathaway and he took a sip his hand shook. Hathaway held the glass in both hands to stop the tremor. Lewis looked on concerned but James gave him his very best 'even-if-you-ask-I'm-not-going-to -tell-you' look. Lewis sighed with disappointment and patted him on the shoulder. Lewis just let him be.

In his mind it was 'just' a panic attack, maybe it was shock, nothing to get too nervous about. A hot meal and a good night's sleep was all he needed and in the morning he'd pull his socks up and go to work bright-eyed and bushy tailed. He'd find somewhere to live and start to replace his ruined possessions. In a month or so it'd be like it never happened. It would be fine, he would be fine, he was convinced of it.

Lewis wasn't.

Every time Hathaway went out for a cigarette he could hear him on the other side of the front door muttering to himself, making some but by no means complete sense. When he sat on the sofa his fingers twitched and fidgeted as Hathaway gazed glassy-eyed at the wall above the TV. The fact that he'd hardly said a word while they ate and how he made lists at the table as he ate, suddenly crossing things out with such vigour that the pen went through the paper. Hathaway was cracking up and there was nothing Lewis could say or do about it. He'd be there and he knew the pleas would go unheard. The only thing to do is be there to pick up the pieces when it all falls apart.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three - Not a Drop to Drink

If you had seen DS Hathaway leave the office the Friday afternoon before as he left the office and didn't see him again until Monday morning you wouldn't have noticed a difference. The facade was firmly in place. He brought the two cups of coffee into the office he shared with Lewis as casually as he always did.

Lewis had encouraged Hathaway to go for a fag and get the coffee to get him out for a few minutes while he had a snoop around behind his sergeant's back. Sure enough the once almost full bottle of whisky the hid in the filing cabinet that they kept for emergencies, was nearly empty. He looked in Hathaway's backpack and found a hefty off licence receipt from a week ago. It was enough to confirm Lewis' suspicion that Hathaway was in a bad way and drinking too much.

Whilst, like now sitting at their desks, he was in James' company he played along with it all. Not saying anything about what he found, not yet. Lewis knew that confronting him wouldn't do any good. Not pushing James away was the priority now. Making sure no one at work caught wind of it and got them both into trouble, double checking everything Hathaway did for mistakes and correcting them before anyone else saw. Doing all the things someone did for him after Val died and he hit the bottle. Covering for him, watching his back and hoping that Hathaway broke down soon before the house of cards Lewis was building to protect him fell. In the meantime he, along with Hathaway, would pretend to everyone else that everything was fine.

That was the plan anyway. It wasn't until later in the week that the wheels started to off. Lewis knew it couldn't go any further when he had to send James out of an interview room while they were questioning a suspect in one of their ongoing cases. It made Lewis wonder how out of control his colleague was and how far he would go.

Hathaway had, out of the blue, slammed his hand hard on the table between them and the suspect out of frustration at the continued "No comment" responses from the suspect. It was a situation every copper had been through countless times. It happened but Hathaway's reaction left everyone in the room shocked, even Lewis. He didn't really have a choice but to quickly end the interview and send James to their office to stew.

When he returned Hathaway was stood up putting his suit jacket on. Lewis closed the door behind him and drew the blinds.

"Sergeant Hathaway, where the bloody hell do you think you're going?" Lewis said sternly.

"To get a bollocking from Innocent and then presumably back here for more of the same from you!" James shot back.

"Look, I've just about had it up to here with you today so don't you dare come at me with all that sodding cheek cos I'm not having it." Lewis said and then pointed his finger at Hathaway "I'll handle the Super, you can get the hell out of here right now and calm yourself down. I'll see you at home later"

Suddenly Hathaway's face fell, in that moment he'd realised what he'd done. He felt so guilty. He knew he'd let Lewis down, disappointed him and he hated that, he hated himself for that.

"I'm sor-" James started to apologise but Lewis was hearing none of it. James' shoulders shrank and he silently left the office.

Chief Superintendent Innocent was not pleased when DI Lewis and not DS Hathaway came to her office. She half expected it though, the pair of detectives were incredibly loyal to one another and Lewis tended to deal with Hathaway's transgressions on the job himself. Lewis sat down in the chair across the desk from his boss.

"If I wanted Batman, I'd've sent a bat signal. On this occasion I believe I requested the presence of the Boy Wonder." She said flatly "There's been a complaint. He scared the living daylights out of the PC standing at the door. She's not happy and that's not even mentioning the man you were questioning and his brief."

"I know, I know." Lewis said to stop her before she got into her full flow "I've sent him home to calm down. He's been having a rough time of it lately."

"Robbie, I can't just let this go. There were genuine concerns that if you hadn't got him out the room he would've hit someone." She said.

"But I did. Please, let me deal with this one. If anything like it ever happens again you can do what you like to both of us but give me a chance this time." Lewis hadn't meant it to sound like begging but it did.

"Fine but be clear on this, I won't put up with anymore of this behaviour." She said and Lewis breathed a sigh of relief. "Off the record, what on earth is going on with him?"

"He just needs a bit of help. I'll get him back to his usual self soon"

"You're helping him?" She asked

"Not at the moment, no. He just needs to get to the point where he realises that he can't cope on his own."

"And how long is that likely to take, Inspector?"

"From the look on his face as he left I expect it won't be too long now."

Lewis worked late that night and went for drive, stopping off to get himself fish and chips, to put off going home to talk to James. When he walked in the flat the lights were off and his brandy had been drunk. Hathaway was passed out on the sofa. Lewis couldn't cope with it this evening so he had a bath and went to bed.


End file.
